RESEARCH PROPOSAL GUIDE

Background and Significance of the Problem Registered nurses in acute care settings have a variable nursing workload, which is defined as the direct supervision of patients. Nurses working in the ED are subject to a higher nursing workload and staffing shortages, which are factors that can affect patient safety. (Kallberg, Ehrenberg, Florin, Ostegren, & Goransson, 2017) In the ED there are variables that determine a nurse’s workload which include: number of bed per nurse, number of patients per nurse, and patient severity. (Kang, Kim, & Lee 2016). The ED is an ever-changing unique environment with a wide variety of patients and patient acuity levels making it hard to determine the right amount of nursing staff to safely care for patients. Staffing has been proven in previous research to be a direct factor in nurses’ workload. Safe staffing is more than just the number of nurses on a shift but also the skill and experience mix of the nurses working. (Wolf, Perhats, Delao, Clark, & Moon 2017). A high nursing workload can affect patient safety and lead to an increase in medical